It was definitely a night to remember last night at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bays did their best to entertain the fans. So let’s briefly recap what happened.

• Manny hits a 3-run homer in the 1st inning
• James Shields hits Coco Crisp, Coco Charges the mound
• Jacoby Ellsbury makes a great diving catch and then leaves the game with an injury
• Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis get into an argument in the dugout
• Red Sox win 7-1, take 1½ game lead over the Rays in the AL East

Before we get into anything else, there is something that cannot be overlooked from last night’s game. It is their pitching last night. Jon Lester was great last night. He scattered 8 hits over 6 1/3 innings allowing just a run.

But that’s not the best part of his boxscore. The best part of his boxscore is the fact that he didn’t walk anyone for the first time in a game in his big league career. He had good command of all his pitches and was moving the ball around the plate with ease in similar fashion like he did during his no-hitter.

If you missed Coco’s postgame reaction to the brawl, you can check it out here. But while you’re here reading the rest of this post, I’ll sum it up for you.

The Rays fight like girls. They scratch and pull hair.

Rays starter James Shields talked about his role in the fracas last night and if he thought Coco would charge the mound.

“I’m all about protecting my players,” he said. “I think what (Crisp) did (Wednesday) was an absolutely dirty move, bush league and not supposed to be in the professional game of baseball. I’m out there to protect my players no matter what the cost is. If I have to get out in the second inning, then I have to get out in the second inning. I felt I did it the right way and he came out at me and things went down.”

“No, not really,” he said. “That just shows the kind of character he is. He’s not a professional player. I lost all respect for him.”

“We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and that’s not going to happen any more,” said Shields. “I had to let him know early and right away and he decided to come out.”

He said his teammates “did great. We’re all in this together. We’re going to play together and we’re going to fight together.”

Here is a look at the previous skirmishes between the Red Sox and the Rays.

The first six rounds of the 2008 MLB Entry Draft were held yesterday in Orlando, FL. Here is a look at the first 8 picks the Red Sox had through the first 6 rounds plus 2 compensation rounds.

The draft will start back up later this morning and you can follow all the action here.

The Rays should have waited to get revenge on Coco (I totally agree on that one).

With Ellsbury going down last night and Coco likely facing a lengthy suspension, the Red Sox decided after the game to send down Chris Carter and call up Brandon Moss from Pawtucket. Moss was actually pulled from the PawSox game last night in the 3rd inning.

It was definitely a debut that Carter will remember though. He enters the game in the 2nd inning as a pinch-runner for Coco after the brawl, then hit gets 2 hits in 3 at-bats and then gets sent down because the Red Sox could be facing a shortage of outfielders for the time being. Calling up Moss gives them flexibility in the outfield whereas Carter can really only play left field.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.